


Defying Convention

by ReaperWriter



Category: Heat of the Sun (1999 TV)
Genre: 1930s, Colonial Kenya, F/M, Gratuitious Wish Fullfillment, Mystery, Supporting Character Gets the Girl, crackfic, pbs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 16:55:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1175516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaperWriter/pseuds/ReaperWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set Post-Series, a new friend of Emma Fitzgerald's provides an unexpected possibility for Assistant Superintendent James Valentine- a relationship with someone who can't be bothered to care about his income or social standing.  Two unconventional people find each other in the most unconventional of places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defying Convention

**Author's Note:**

> This is, admittedly, a rather Mary Sue wish fulfillment fic of the first water. However, James Valentine was one of the first fictional characters I ever fangirled, when the series first ran, and after finding it again on Netflix, I couldn't get this out of my head until I wrote it. I fully expect almost no one to read it. However, I may very well write their continuing adventures. Who knows. If you do read this, please let me know what you think.

Nairobi, Kenya 1931

Music wafted on the warm night air at the Kifaru Club as Assistant Superintendent James Valentine walked up the steps.   Out of uniform and in white tie, he didn’t plan to stay long past dinner.  Morning would come early at the police line, and he was working on a case of minor thefts from guests at one of the hotels in town.  However, Tyburn and Emma Fitzgerald had invited him to dine with them as a quiet celebration of their engagement, and he was pleased to oblige.

Dinner seating hadn’t yet begun, so he wandered into the bar and found his friends sitting at a table facing the door, with someone seated opposite them.  The careful positioning was so like his superior officer, he had to smile.  Emma caught sight of him first. “James,” she said, smiling and Tyburn rose to greet him, offering a hand.  He stepped forward and shook.  “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve added to the party.  This is Katherine Abernathy; she’s new to the colony.  Kate, this is Albert’s associate, Assistant Superintendent James Valentine.”

He turned to the woman opposite Emma.  She looked to be near to his age or a little younger.  Her auburn hair was a little longer than the current style and fell in curls to her shoulders, set off by the green gown she wore.  She smiled and stood, offering her hand.  “Superintendent Valentine, a pleasure.”  He felt his eyes widen slightly.  American, by the accent, and her hand when he took it was just slightly rough. 

“All mine, Miss Abernathy.” He brought her hand up and kissed the back.

“Please, do call me Kate,” she said.  “I’m afraid I am too much of a…what is the British term? A bluestocking to stand on ceremony.  Though I do love fine British manners.”

“James,” he said, smiling again.  She returned to her seat.  “I’m going to get a scotch, can I refresh anyone’s drink?”

“I’ll help,” Tyburn said, joining him.  The two of them left the ladies to talk and walked to the bar.

“An American?” Valentine said.  “Interesting.  What’s her story?”

“She’s apparently doing research on the local tribes.  An ethnographer or something.  Emma met her when she came to see about flying out to one of the more remote villages.”  Tyburn paused to wave at the barman. “Three scotches and a gin and tonic, please, Hamisi.”

“Is she by herself?”

“Indeed.  She’s taken lease on a house here in town.”  Tyburn smiled as the barman set down their drinks. 

Knowing Emma would definitely drink the scotch, he picked up the gin and tonic for Miss Abernathy.  Kate.  “That will set tongues to wagging.”

“I’d imagine the fact she is an American will do that all on its own.” Tyburn said, passing him the third scotch. “Though Emma tells me that she hired a married couple to help around the house and minimize any apparent impropriety.”

The two men headed back to table.  Kate was just finishing a story.  “So there I am, trying and failing to climb a sand dune up to where this group has set up camp, when the Sheik’s son simply rides up next to me on a camel and lift’s me up by my pack, and then trots me up to the top.  I was so terribly mortified, but thank goodness he did, or I’d still be stuck in the middle of the Sinai.”  She smiled at him as he handed her the fresh drink

“So what brings you to study the tribes here?” James asked, sipping his scotch. 

“Unfortunately, things in the Sinai and the Levant have gotten a little…heated, of late.” A look of nostalgia crossed her face for a moment. “And since my Swahili is about as good as my Arabic, it seemed not a bad time to make a change.”

He was about to inquire further when the maître d’ approached to lead them to their table for dinner.  He finished his scotch and stood, offering Kate his arm.  “May I escort you through?”

“Thank you,” she said, her warm hazel eyes sparkling.

They passed the meal in companionable conversation, with he and Tyburn sharing stories of cases worked, Emma telling stories of her bush pilot adventures, and Kate telling them about her education and research among tribal groups.  Her interest in culture and folkways and the preservation of it in the face of colonialism fascinated him.

All too soon, they had finished the bottle of champagne and the apple charlotte desserts.  Tyburn and Emma were smiling happily at each other and holding hands when music from the dance floor drifted over.  He saw Kate check her watch.  “Goodness, it’s getting late.  I should be headed home.”

“Oh, dear, really?” Emma asked. “You couldn’t stay for a dance? Just one?”

Kate looked across the table at him.  He smiled.  “If you would do me the honor of one turn on the floor, Kate, I could see you safely home after.  I have an early day myself.”

“Well, I suppose I could stay for one,” she said, smiling and offering her hand.  He helped her up, and followed as Tyburn led Emma over to the dance floor.  As they stepped on, the somewhat fast song shifted to a slower waltz, and he took her in his arms, settling a hand carefully on her back.

“Emma Fitzgerald is a hard woman to say no to,” he said, settling into the steps he had known since cotillion classes in his youth.  The woman he was partnered to smiled, following his lead easily, but with just enough resistance to make it interesting.

“You make that sound like a quality you admire,” Kate said, following into the spin he laid for her.  “How very unusual.”

“You disagree,” he asked, drawing her back into his arms. 

“Not at all,” she replied.  “It’s just been my experience that most men prefer women who are more meek and submissive.”

“I think you’ll find that Superintendent Tyburn is definitely not like most men.”  He smiled and dipped her suddenly, causing a small laugh to bubble from her.  “And I would like to think that neither am I.”

“Indeed. So how did an uncommon man such as yourself end up in the colonial police?” she asked.  He found himself telling her about his father and the ruin of the family fortunes, and how it had led him to his current career.  They missed the change in tempo but kept up naturally.  It was only when Tyburn tapped him on the shoulder to note that one dance had now been five.

“I should get you home,” he said.  They made their goodbyes to Emma and Tyburn, stopped at the coat check for her wrap, and stepped out front to hail a cab.  As they waited, he asked how she had gone into ethnography in the first place.

“My father would tell you it was to spite him,” she said, smiling.  “I come from a family in Chicago, very old money.  We largely survived the crash unscathed because father thought stocks were a dirty business.  But I was always fascinated by stories of other lands and cultures, and studied languages from childhood.  My father made me have two seasons on the society circuit, thinking I would change my mind, but I knew I wanted to study cultures in college.”

“And he’s all right with you coming all the way here alone?” He handed her into the back of the cab and waited while she gave the driver directions to a house in one of the nicer enclaves of town.

“He’s apoplectic, actually, but grandfather left trusts for all the grandchildren, so he doesn’t have much choice,” she said, settling in next to him.  “I think he’s resigned himself to the probability that I will be the strange, spinster daughter.  Thankfully, both my brothers and the older of my sisters are married and leading fairly conventional lives, so he has some solace.”

“Well, Kenya is a terribly unconventional place.  You may find yourself surprised.”

“Oh, I already have,” she said, smiling at him.

A short time later, they pulled up outside a nice house on a small garden acre in a very, very respectable enclave.  He asked the driver to wait and helped her out, walking her to the door.  “Thank you very much for the escort, James.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Kate,” he said.  Pausing, he found himself ever so briefly nervous.  “This was a wonderful evening.  I wonder if you might like to…I mean, whether you would be interested in…”

“I would. Very much.  Perhaps dinner, on Thursday?  Somewhere a little less formal?” She smiled, then surprised him and leaned over, kissing his cheek.  “Send a message for me here, and we’ll arrange it.  Good night, James.”

“Good night, Kate,” he said.  She unlocked the door, and smiling at him one last time, disappeared inside.  Valentine smiled to himself, and turned, heading to the car.  As he climbed in and directed the driver back to the police line barracks, he found himself humming the waltz they had danced to earlier in the evening.

*

The next day, Monday, he headed out early, assisted by Karinde since Tyburn had the day off, and revisited the hotels that had the guest thefts.  By afternoon, studying the handwriting on the guest registers, he had made an arrest of a guest operating under aliases across the effected hotels, and using the last to hide his take.  He smiled as Karinde took the man into custody, and headed back to the office to write up the report and his charge sheet.  On the way, he contemplated restaurants for Thursday dinner.  One of the hotel dining rooms would do nicely, he thought, and stopped in at The Grand to make a quick reservation.  It was nice, but less formal then the Kifaru Club.

When he got back to the station, he dashed off a quick note.

“Dear Kate, If it is still convenient for you, please join me for dinner on Thursday night at the Grand Hotel dining room.  I have made a reservation for 7:30.  If this still suits, I can come by and pick you up at 6:45.  I await the pleasure of your reply.  Sincerely, James Valentine.”

He handed the note in an envelope to a junior officer for delivery and then settled in for paperwork.  Some hours later, as the sun was sinking red into the horizon, a man knocked and handed him a nice, cream colored envelope made of good linen paper.

“James, your proposal suits perfectly.  I look forward to it with anticipation, and will see you on Thursday at quarter of seven.  Most sincerely, Kate.”

He found himself tracing her handwriting with a smile as he slid the note into his notebook.  The week suddenly seemed too long.

*

Fate was clearly not feeling a friend to Valentine.  Shortly after breakfast and morning assembly on Thursday, a frantic call had come regarding a body found in town.  When it became clear this was not a death by accidental misadventure or a sudden heart attack, he cursed quietly.  Time passed, and he knew he had no choice.  He dashed off a quick note.  “Kate, please forgive me, but we have had a case come up and I can’t get away.  I’ll likely be working late into the night.  I hope you will let me reschedule with you.  My sincerest apologies, James.”  He grabbed a patrolman and sent him to deliver it, and then stop by the Grand to cancel his reservation.  Sighing, he settled back in to collect evidence from the scene.

Hours later, as he, Tyburn, Karinde, Singh, and Dr. Mueller sat in their office, reviewing the results of the autopsy; there was a knock at the door.  Karinde opened it to reveal Kate and an older native man, each carrying a large basket.  The men rose hastily. “Please excuse the interruption, Superintendent, but I know you had a case come up.  Since I thought food might not be at the forefront for you, Joseph and I brought dinner for all of you.  A neighbor turned me on to a shop that does an excellent curry; there should be plenty for you.”

“That is most kind, Doctor Abernathy,” Tyburn said.  “This is Corporal Karinde and Sub Inspector Singh, who assist Valentine and I.  And Doctor Emil Mueller, who assists us with autopsies as needed.  Gentlemen, Doctor Katherine Abernathy, new to the colony.”

“This is most kind,” Mueller said as Karinde took the basket from her and set it on the table.  “Thank you.” Joseph set the other one next to it and pulled out a set of plates and glasses and a flask of lemonade.

“Can you and Joseph join us, Doctor Abernathy?” Tyburn asked.

“Thank you, but no, Superintendent.” She smiled.  “I know you have a lot to do.  And I actually have a lot of field notes to type up.  Joseph will swing by tomorrow for the dishes, if you will just leave them in the baskets.”

“Of course,” Tyburn said.  “Valentine, would you like to show them out?”

James smiled, and walked over.  Joseph left the room first and headed over to the small truck parked at the edge of parade grounds.  James turned and laid a hand on her arm.  “I’m sorry, Kate, truly.  I was looking forward to tonight.”

“It’s all right,” she said, her other hand coming up to cover his.  “Hazards of the job, I imagine.  We can find another night.”

“Soon, you have my word.” She squeezed his hand, and then stepped away.

“Good hunting.”

*

It took almost a week, but eventually motive and malefactor were all sorted out.  After a celebratory Dewar’s with Tyburn in the office, he headed to quarters.  A quick shower, a change of clothes, and then he impulsively grabbed the keys to his motorbike.

Pulling up to the house, he parked, and walked up, knocking on the door.  A minute passed, then Joseph, the gentleman who had come to the police line with Kate answered.  “Good afternoon.  Is Doctor Abernathy in?”

“She is in her study,” Joseph said, opening the door into the entrance hall.  “If you will wait a moment, I will let her know you are here.”

He was examining a small oil painting of a rock carved city when she walked into the entry hall wearing tan pants and a white linen blouse.  “James, what a pleasant surprise!”

“I hope you don’t mind me stopping by,” he said “We finished the case up this morning and I found myself without obligations.  I know it’s impulsive, but would you like to go for a ride on my motor bike with me?”

Kate smiled at him broadly. “I’d like that.  Let me grab my jacket and some better boots.”

A little while later, James smiled as the wind whipped around them, Kate’s body warm at his back with her arms wrapped around his waist.  Headed out of the city, he watched for a turn he knew would take them out to a bluff with great views of the sunset.  “Hold on tight.”

She gasped slightly and tightened her hold as they dipped at the turn, and then laughed, her breath warm against his neck.  “This is amazing!” she called loudly.

A mile or two on, they pulled to a stop, and Valentine climbed off, and then helped her off the back.  His hands lingered perhaps a moment longer than necessary at her waist, but then, hers seemed in no hurry to leave his shoulders.  After another moment, manners overtook him, and he stepped back.  “I thought we might climb up to the top of the bluff.  The sunset should be lovely.”

“I’m game,” Kate said, handing him her goggles.  He secured them in a saddle bag, then took her hand and led her to the path up the bluff.  Soon they were sitting side by side a little ways back from the edge.  Below them, a small herd of gazelle ran across the plain.  “It must have been amazing to grow up here, with all of this”

“It was.  I don’t think I truly appreciated it though, until I left to attend university.” 

She glanced at him.  “Ah.  Oxford or Cambridge?”

“Are those the only two options?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She laughed quietly.  “With that particular accent, I think so.” 

This time, Valentine laughed out loud.  “Oxford.  Christ Church College.  I read literature, mostly Chaucer and Shakespeare.”

Kate was quite for a moment, starring out at the sky deepening with shades of red and orange.  Then, she said, quietly, “Nature, the vicar of the almighty lord.”

Valentine turned his head, surprised at the obscure quote.  At the same moment, she had turned her head towards him, and their lips brushed.  They froze for just a moment, before she blushed and started to pull away.  James, emboldened by the moment and the memory of her warmth against him on the bike, reached a hand up to cup her cheek and whispered, “Come and kiss me, Kate.”  Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers with a purpose.  She hesitated only a second before her hands rose to his face and her body leaned in to his.

Time seemed to pause as their first tentative movements gave way to something more.  His hand slid around into her hair, his free arm encircling her waist.  He found himself leaning back against the large rock behind him, pulling her gently against him.  She sighed, and leaned in, her mouth opening against his in invitation.  Soon, he could taste her, warm and rich and sweet, her fingers raking his scalp lightly. 

Finally, the need for air overrode the moment. They sat there, foreheads together, breathing quickly.  Valentine paused, realizing he had been very bold indeed.  “Kate, if that was too forward...”

“Don’t you dare apologize for kissing me, James,” she said.  She moved her head slightly, and began to worry a spot just under his ear with her lips, causing him to groan.  “I will be very….very…offended.”

His hand drifted up and into her hair, stroking it.  “Well, we can’t have that.”  Then he moved to bring her lips to his again.

*

After they climbed down, hair mussed, and lips bee stung from kissing, they rode back under a deep indigo sky.  Miriam and Joseph had retired to bed in their small cottage behind the house on the property, so she led him to the kitchen, poured each of them a bottle of beer, and set about making a quick meal.

They ate and talked about her field work, which was progressing well, and the twists his last case had taken.  They talked about the books they had both read, and movies they had seen.  At one point, she had risen and come back with a copy of Langston Hughes’s _The Weary Blues_ for him to borrow, reading snippets aloud.  Before long, night had darkened and he had looked at his watch.  It was after one in the morning.

“I should go.” He stood, and she joined him, walking through the quiet night, broken by the chirp of insects and the rustle of night birds.  Standing on the porch, her hand warm in his, her smile soft, he wanted to stop time.  “Can I see you again?”

“Yes,” she said, “though I am going to be away for the next week.  Emma’s got a break in her schedule, so she is going to fly me up north to meet a few of the other tribes.”

He leaned in, and she met him, a soft kiss that grew more passionate by the moment, until she finally stepped away.  “Be safe, both of you,” he said, squeezing her hand and letting it go.  “I’ll miss you.”

“You be safe too.  After all, your job has a much higher danger rate than mine.”  She pressed one more quick kiss to his lips.  “I’ll come by the police line when we get back.  Good night, James.”

“Good night, Kate.” He climbed onto the motorbike and kicked the starter as she made her way inside.  Once he saw the door safely shut, he headed out for the police line.

*

The next few months passed quickly with stolen evenings between cases and field work.  Sometimes they went dancing, or to a movie.  Sometimes they rode out to the bluffs to watch the stars come out.  Once, she took him with her to one of the villages, where a celebration was going on for the wedding of the village leader’s son.  He had been surprised to find her dressed like one of the tribeswomen, but their welcome had been warm, once she made it clear he was here as her friend and not as a policeman.

The time was not without a few scares.  Once, she had headed out in the truck on a trip expected to take three days.  When she was a day late getting home, Miriam and Joseph had worried, and Joseph had bicycled over to the police lines.  Icy fear had gripped him, and with permission from Tyburn and Burkitt, he had been about to set out with a small force to search in the direction she had gone when a native man on a mule had ridden up with Kate pinion behind him.

“I’m so sorry for the fuss, Commissioner,” she said.  “My truck threw a belt about 90 kilometers out.  I walked to the nearest village to spend the night, and then Mr. Bitok was kind enough to help me get back.  There wasn’t a police line or a wire between here and there, so I couldn’t call in.”

“Quite all right, Ms. Abernathy, we are just glad you’re safe.”  Burkitt tipped his hat, and walked out of the office.  Tyburn nodded and then followed him, leaving them alone.  Valentine had kept his composure, but as soon as the door closed on them, he pulled her into a fierce embrace.

“God, Kate,” he breathed, pressing a kiss into her hair. 

“I’m all right, James,” she said, returning his hug.  “I had my side arm and food and water.  I’m all right.”

A month or so later, he and Tyburn had just brought in a suspected black marketeer.  Kate had been at the police line to see if Tyburn and Emma would like to come for dinner soon, and was walking towards the office when the man broke free from the guard holding him, and snatched a gun.  “DOWN!” yelled Tyburn.  He saw Karinde grab Kate and pull her behind a car as the young man opened fire.  He pulled his side arm, and ducked out to fire a shot and get bearings.  When he had sighted the man, he broke cover and took his shot.  However, one of the patrolmen across the yard fired nearly simultaneously.

Kate saw him rock back and blood bloom on his arm.  “JAMES!” she screamed.  As he fired the second shot which dropped the man, he saw Karinde grab her and hold her, keeping her from running to him.  In the aftermath, the man bleeding on the ground, Singh had run for doctor Mueller.  Kate, seeing quickly that he was only grazed, dropped down next to the suspect and put pressure on his major wound.

Tyburn had bound his arm up and poured him a generous scotch while Kate assisted Mueller in the next room, sewing up their suspect.  By the time they finished, Singh and Emma, who had come as soon as she heard, were waiting.  Kate and Mueller had washed their hands, but both had blood soaked shirts.  Emma poured them each a drink, and he watched as Kate knocked hers back hard.  “Well, this was exciting.  But if it’s all the same, I think I’d like to go home now.”

“Karinde,” Tyburn said.  “I think Valentine would like to see Dr. Abernathy home.  Would you kindly take them?  Valentine, take 48 hours medical leave, and then have Dr. Mueller look at that arm to clear you for duty.”  He then took his spare uniform coat and handed it to Kate, who accepted it gratefully, and pulled it on to cover her clothes.

“Thank you,” Kate said.  “If people are free, I had actually come to offer a dinner invitation for Sunday.  Let me know.  Good night, all.”  He stood, and together, they followed Karinde out to the staff car.  The ride was made in silence, but as soon as they were in the back seat, her hand gripped his hard and didn’t let go.

At her home, he assured Karinde that he could get back on his own, and he followed her out of the car and up to the porch.  Joseph pulled open the door as they approached, and seeing them, yelled for Miriam.  As soon as she was assured that neither of them was actually bleeding, she had bundled Kate to the back of the house, while Joseph had led him through to the kitchen.  The man helped him remove his ruined coat and shirt, tossing them into the burn bucket by the door.  He also helped him wash up with a warm cloth, and then sat him at the table with a scotch.

From the back of the house came the sound of running water, and shortly, Miriam came through with more ruined clothes for the burn bin.  After handing them off to Joseph, she pulled together foods and started cooking, warming the kitchen and filling it with the heady scent of spices.  Leaning back against the wall behind him, he closed his eyes and let the burn from the scotch try to drown out the burn from the graze on his arm.

“You make sure she eats,” Miriam said, and he opened his eyes to see her placing two plates in the warmer compartment on the oven.  “We let you be.”  With that, she slipped out the door leading to the back of the property and the cottage she and Joseph shared.  A few minutes later, he heard soft footsteps at the door and looked over. 

Kate stood there, feet bare and damp hair curling loosely around her shoulders.  A white cotton robe was wrapped around her, over the top of a long white peignoir.  “Hi,” he said, softly.  “Miriam put dinner in the warmer.”

Kate smiled at him, her eyes tired.  “Pour me some wine?”  He nodded as she took a towel and pulled the plates out of the warmer.  He stood and went to her ice box, pulling out a bottle of white wine and pouring two glasses.  He set them on the table, then joined her.  They ate the simple stew in silence and drank the wine.  When they were done, she stood and placed the plates and glasses in the sink, then turned back to him.

Crossing the floor, she reached out and tentatively touched him, her fingers sliding through his hair.  A shaky sigh came out of her, and he brought his arms up and around her waist, pulling her closer to him and resting his cheek against her stomach.  He felt her shudder just a little.  “How now, sweet Kate?”

“I thought I had lost you today,” she said, a tremor in her voice and in her fingers where they ran against the back of his neck.  “I saw you jerk, and I saw you bleed, and I wanted to take Karinde’s gun, and kill the bastard.”

“And yet, you helped save him,” he said.  “Why?”

“I don’t know.  You were safe, and then I just…I hated him, but who would I be if I had stood there and let him die?”

“You are priced beyond rubies, sweet lady.”  He stopped when he felt her breath hitch, and brought his eyes up, searching hers.  “Kate?”

“I love you, you know.”  Her voice was whisper soft, but stopped him cold. “Since that night, in your arms at the club, I think, and then more every time you kiss me, or say my name.  So much now I nearly can’t breathe.  And it terrifies me that I could lose that.  Lose you, James.”

“Oh, my sweet Kate,” he said.  He pushed the chair back and stood, pulling her to him.  “I love nothing in this world so well as you.”

That brought a hiccup of laughter.  “You’re mixing your plays.”

He brought her chin up and looked at her.  “I promise you, Kate, so much as I have the choice, you could never lose me. “  Leaning down, he kissed her, slow and soft, and she seemed to melt into him.  He focused on breathing, on kissing her lips, and her cheek, and the spot at the join of her neck that made her make that soft, gasping moan.  “Never doubt that, love.”

“James,” she said.  He continued to kiss her, but her hand came up, and he paused.  “I need to tell you…I’m not…when I was younger, I…”

“Kate…”

“There was someone, when I was first in college.  Older, and experienced, and I thought…well, it was stupid, but I thought he saw me.”  She paused, and a flush colored her cheeks.  “I am not ashamed of it, but I felt you should know that I had…”

He brought a finger to her lips.  “Kate, it doesn’t matter to me.  You are brilliant and independent and a force of nature, and my love for you doesn’t depend on some societal expectation.  I love you Kate, past and present.”

She kissed his finger and then, turning his hand, kissed his palm before taking it and leading him toward the back of the house.  She pushed open a door and pulled him inside.  Then she took a matchbox from the top of the dresser and lit an oil lamp, bringing the room into soft focus.  In the center of the wall, between two windows, stood a large four poster bed draped with mosquito netting. 

Against one side wall stood a dressing table, while the other held a night stand.  She carefully moved around the room and settled the lamp on a bedside table, then turned back to him.  Reaching a hand to her waist, she undid the tie on her robe and let it slide form her shoulders, pooling on the floor.  The light from the lamp behind her lit fire in her hair and cast shadows for her body through the thin material of her gown.

“Kate, we don’t have to do this, if you don’t want,” he said, stepping closer to her.  “It’s all right.”

She moved to him, and one hand reached out, resting on his arm below the bandage, the pressure so feather light as if she wanted to make sure not to hurt him.  “If you had died today, I don’t think I could live with the regret of not being with you, here, like this.” Her other hand came up and ghosted her fingers down his neck as she leaned up.  Her breath was warm on his ear as she whispered, “I need you, James.  Please.”

Like a damn breaking, he let go with abandon, his arms circling her and pulling her flush to his body.  She was warm and soft and she smelled so good.  Clean, like soap and just a hint of jasmine.  His lips came down on hers and moved, gentle and warm.  In moments, she had opened to him and he could taste the spices of Miriam’s stew and the slight tang of the wine, and her.  Like a man dying of thirst, he wanted to drown in everything about her.

Her hands came down to his waist and with a light tug, she pulled his undershirt from his pants.  Her hands were just a little cool as she ran them over his waist and up towards his chest.  He groaned and bit down a little on her lip, making her moan softly.  

Pulling away, he smiled at her little whine of abandon.  “Shh, love,” he said, reaching down to pull the shirt off.  In the soft light, his skin glowed golden and sprinkled with freckles.  She made a noise that he could only think of as wanton, and then returned a feral smile to him.  Stepping back, she opened the curtains of netting, and then reached down, gathering the fabric of her peignoir at her thighs and slowly sliding it up.  The linen brushed over her body as she pulled it over her head and dropped it to the floor.

She stood then, hair a halo of copper and bronze, the light playing over her skin down to the small patch of curls between her legs.  “Gods, Kate, you are like to kill me.”

She grinned wickedly at him and sat back onto the bed, crawling gracefully to lean against the bolster of pillows.  “Why, Assistant Superintendent, I do believe you are over-dressed.”

He very nearly growled at her, and moved with lightening precision as his belt, boots, trousers, and socks joined the pile on the floor.  Wearing nothing but his undershorts, he moved to join her, pulling the curtain shut behind him.

She felt a faint thrill of fear at the look of animal possession on his face as he crawled up the bed towards her.  It had been long since she had been with a man, and her college lover had been nowhere as tactile or giving as James had already shown himself to be.  She watched as he stopped and leaned over, reaching under the net and using the knob to extinguish the light.  The illumination in the room shifted from golden to blue as moonlight from the windows replaced that from the lamp.  Smiling, he rolled to lay on his side beside her, his body pressed against hers.  She could feel the length of him, hard and ready against her thigh.

James took in the view of her hair on the pillows and the dusty pink of aureoles, peaked in the night air.  He found her watching him curiously and leaned in to kiss her.  It started gently, and then deepened as she moved her hands to the back of his head, her nails dragging through his hair before running down his neck.  His hips rocked against her in response, and he nipped at her lip again before kissing his way over to her ear and then down to the hollow of her throat.

His hands roamed down, ghosting her arms and then up her sides.  She shuddered and sighed against him, breathy noises that made it hard to think.  Bringing on hand up, he traced the swell of her breasts.  “May I?” he breathed against her skin.

“Please.”

His fingers moved down and ghosted over one taut point, then the other before his hand took the swell of her in his hand and massaged gently.  A sound like a delighted keening came from her throat, moving to a whimper as he kissed down from her neck to one breast.  He licked tentatively, then kissed and nibbled and sucked, and she arched into him, a soft litany of yes, and please, and god escaping her.

Her body felt on fire as he lavished one breast, then the other, while his hands moved over her body.  One long, elegant finger traced along the top of her curls, and he paused, glancing up into her eyes.  The hazel a deep greenish brown her pupils widened with need.  She bit her lip and nodded, still looking fascinated as he explored her.  He ghosted his hand down and diverted from his goal to trace slow, firm circles against her inner thigh, and was rewarded with another slight shutter as her legs drifted apart on instinct.

She gasped again, his name, as his fingers brush against her warm center.  “James, god, please.” The naked want in her voice was intoxicating and he stroked and teased, her hips bucking gently.  After a moment or two, he slipped a finger into her warm heat and she almost sobbed.

“So beautiful, my Kate,” he murmured against her skin, his hand moving gently in and out.  She panted and arched against him, pressing down as he added a second finger to the first, her hips almost grinding.  Suckling at her skin in the valley of her breasts, he smiled and added the pressure of his thumb at the edge of her core.  Once, twice, and she clenched around him and stiffened, keening silently.  He continued to move until her hands came up to still his.  He moved back up the bed beside her and she curled into him. “Are you all right, love?”

“That was.  I didn’t know…”

“Did…has no one ever done that for you?”  He looked down at her as she blushed and ducked her face into the crook of his neck.  “Truly?

“No.  I mean, what I had done before was…pleasant enough, and I enjoyed it at the time, but…”  She paused to shudder, and he allowed himself a very quick and conceited grin.  “No, never before.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple, and breathed through the urge to push himself quickly into her.  Now that they were this far, he realized that they hadn’t discussed…prevention.  Not that he wouldn’t marry Kate tomorrow, if she wished it, and gladly be the father of any children she might have.  But he also knew her career was important to her, deeply important. 

Seeming to sense his hesitation, she tilted her head up to him.  “James?”

“I was just thinking about…well, things happen in the natural course of events, and…I’m afraid I didn’t expect or prepare for…” he stopped, as she leaned over and kissed him gently.  She rolled away to the other night stand and opened the drawer, picking up something, and then moving back to him.  She pressed a small metal tin into his hand.

“I..I had thought we might reach this point someday, and it seemed like good planning,” she said, flushing slightly as he looked at the logo for a well-known, American company.  “I bought them when last I went down to Mombasa.”

He leaned over and kissed her, then opened the tin and removed one of the paper envelopes.  She took the tin from him and set it back on the night stand, then reached down their bodies and stroked him gently through the cotton of his shorts.  She grinned as he moaned and bucked against her.  “Kate, love…”

She reached down to the waist band and slid her hands underneath; pushing it down his legs until it he kicked them off his feet.  His hands shook a little as he removed the rubber from the package and reached down, carefully rolling it on.  He shifted onto his side, and Kate lay back, smiling up at him.  With one hand, he reached back to the joining between her legs, stroking her gently. 

Kate gasped and moaned, still sensitive from what James had done to hear earlier.  “Darling, do we need to wait?” he asked.  He was surprised when Kate reached for him, pulling his weight onto her, his leg settling between her thighs.

She looked up at him, eyes shining and needy. “James,” she said, simply and softly, and then rocked her hips down against him.  He groaned and moved, lining himself up, and then slowly, pushing in.  “Oh…”

“Okay?” he murmured, kissing against her neck.  In answer her legs wrapped up and around his back, pulling against him to bring him further into her.  “God, Kate, love…”

Before long, he found a rhythm that brought her arching under him, panting and murmuring, her nails raking against his back.  He shifted slightly, deepening the angle, and suddenly she was whimpering.  “There, god, please, James, there.”  He thrust again, a little firmer, and was rewarded by a shift to soft keening, wordless and desperate.  He felt the heat coiling at the base of his spine, knew he wouldn’t last very long.  Slipping a hand down to where the joined, he found the hard little nub at the head of her sex and stroked it firmly.  Once, twice, and she was suddenly still, her warm heat pulsing around him, mouth wide in a soundless cry.

He continued to thrust through her pleasure until a felt himself let go a few minutes late, stars bursting behind his eyes.  He was careful not to collapse onto her, instead holding her as he rolled to the side, wanting to feel their connection last as long as possible.

She laid her head on his shoulder, breathing hard.  His hand came up and stroked gently in her hair.  “Fair Katharine, and most fair, will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will enter at a lady's ear and plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?”

“You do fairly well all on your own,” she said, nuzzling his neck.  “For none could better win my heart than you have done.”  Suddenly, she yawned. 

James moved then, slowly to draw them apart.  She murmured her displeasure at the loss, and he kissed her forehead.  “I need to clean up, I will be right back.”

Standing, he carefully removed the used rubber and carried it to the bathroom, throwing it away in the small rubbish bin under the sink.  He wet a towel and cleaned himself, carefully, before returning to the room.  He crawled back onto the bed.  Kate had rolled onto her side and was dozing, so he slipped behind her and gently tucked and arm around her waist.  She sighed and snuggled into him as he pulled the covers over them both.  “Sleep, sweetheart.  I will be right here when you wake.”  He kissed the back of her neck and closed his eyes, letting the sound of her soft breathing and the quiet night sounds of the garden beyond her windows lull him to sleep.

 

 


End file.
